Traditional Wedding Anniversary Gift Ideas
This April (2013) has particularly been a special month for me with many reasons to celebrate – it marks the one year anniversary of quitting my full-time consulting career and becoming a full-time business owner, my husband had his milestone 30th birthday and together we celebrated our 5th wedding anniversary.
In the spirit of celebrating anniversaries, I was reading about the list of traditional anniversary gifts. No one is certain just when the traditional gift list came into existence, but it probably evolved over time. Calling years twenty-five and fifty ‘Silver’ and ‘Gold’ may have originated in medieval Europe, where wives were given a silver wreath to celebrate their twenty-fifth year of marriage and a gold wreath for their fiftieth wedding anniversary. Diamonds are traditional anniversary gifts in both the sixtieth and seventh-fifth years. Year sixty probably became a part of existing traditions when Queen Victoria celebrated her Diamond Jubilee after sixty years on the British throne. But these 25th, 50th, 60th and 75th wedding anniversaries are a long way off for me still!
What I was inspired by is the simplistic nature of the early on anniversary gift suggestions – to some, they may seem boring, yet there are many ways to creatively turn each year’s anniversary theme into a special, memorable gift. Here is the list of traditional anniversary gifts for the first 15 years and some ideas on how to transform them into something fun and original.
| Anniversary | Traditional Gift Theme | Unique Gift Ideas |
|---|---|---|
| 1st | Paper | Personalized stationery Decorative paper plates/napkins Wrapping paper/ribbon collection Books or journal Note paper, post-its, magnetic notepads |
| 2nd | Cotton | Set of sheets Seasonal kitchen hand towel set Socks Monogrammed throw blanket |
| 3rd | Leather | Wallet/purse Coaster set Shoes |
| 4th | Fruit/Flowers | Basket of seeds and gardening tools Fresh flower bulbs Outing to the local farmers market Smoothie recipe book and emersion blender |
| 5th | Wood | Handmade art – wooden bowl, candle sticks Wood cutting board with cheese knives Frames for a wall collage Restored/refinished furniture piece |
| 6th | Candy/Iron | Chocolate-covered strawberries/pretzels Antique candy dishIron skillet with homemade breakfast in bed Treats from a local confectioner |
| 7th | Wool/Copper | Wool socks or slippers Mittens made from vintage wool sweaters Copper mugs for Moscow Mule cocktails |
| 8th | Bronze/Pottery | Set of handmade pottery coffee mugs Custom wax seal Make-up gift card – bronzer, eyeshadow, etc. |
| 9th | Pottery/Willow | Outing to a pottery class Willow basket set or shelving unit Pottery Barn gift card |
| 10th | Tin/Aluminum | Monogram embosser Tin of flavored tea New set of aluminum baking pans |
| 11th | Steel | Thermal coffee mug with local coffee beans Watch Stainless steel kitchen appliance/accessory |
| 12th | Silk/Linen | Linen tablecloth with cloth napkins/napkin rings Silk sheet set Silk scarf Linen cardstock stationery |
| 13th | Lace | Vintage doilies Lace trimmed apron Lanterns hand-painted with lace pattern |
| 14th | Ivory | Monochromatic gift of all ivory items Gift basket of delicious smelling soaps (playing on Ivory soap concept) |
| 15th | Crystal | Custom etched pair of crystal tumblers Crystal vase or tray Accessory with some bling |